Combat Press Men’s MMA Rankings: Feb. 29, 2016

As MMA continues to grow its presence with the UFC, Bellator MMA, WSOF and ONE FC, fighters are constantly jockeying for position in the eyes (and rankings) of the media.

Every week, Combat Press will rank each weight class from heavyweight to flyweight, as well as the pound-for-pound rankings (including both genders).

Note: the numbers in parentheses represent the fighter’s ranking from last week.

Heavyweight

Fabricio Werdum (1)

Cain Velasquez (2)

Stipe Miocic (3)

Ben Rothwell (4)

Alistair Overeem (5)

Junior dos Santos (6)

Andrei Arlovski (7)

Travis Browne (8)

Josh Barnett (9)

Mark Hunt (10)

No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.

Light Heavyweight

Jon Jones (1)

Daniel Cormier (2)

Anthony “Rumble” Johnson (3)

Alexander Gustafsson (4)

Phil Davis (5)

Glover Teixeira (6)

Ryan Bader (7)

Ovince Saint Preux (8)

Liam McGeary (9)

Jimi Manuwa (10)

No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.

Middleweight

Luke Rockhold (1)

Chris Weidman (2)

Yoel Romero (3)

Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (4)

Vitor Belfort (6)

Lyoto Machida (7)

Tim Kennedy (8)

Michael Bisping (9)

Anderson Silva (5)

Derek Brunson (-)/Robert Whittaker (-)

Dropped from the rankings: David Branch (10)

There are plenty of people that didn’t agree with the decision in the UFC Fight Night 84 main event, but the bottom line is that a win is a win and England’s Michael Bisping can claim victory over legend Anderson Silva. Bisping climbs one spot to No. 8, whereas the former champion Silva tumbles all the way down to No. 9. The shake-up in the rankings also resulted in World Series of Fighting champion David Branch falling out of the top 10, while Derek Brunson and Robert Whittaker moved into a tie for 10th.

Welterweight

Robbie Lawler (1)

Carlos Condit (2)

Ben Askren (3)

Rory MacDonald (4)

Matt Brown (5)

Stephen Thompson (6)

Johny Hendricks (7)

Hector Lombard (8)

Tyron Woodley (9)

Demian Maia (10)

No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.

Lightweight

Rafael dos Anjos (1)

Khabib Nurmagomedov (2)

Donald Cerrone (3)

Eddie Alvarez (4)

Anthony Pettis (5)

Gilbert Melendez (6)

Will Brooks (7)

Tony Ferguson (8)

Nate Diaz (9)

Justin Gaethje (10)

No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.

Featherweight

Conor McGregor (1)

José Aldo (2)

Frankie Edgar (3)

Chad Mendes (4)

Max Holloway (5)

Ricardo Lamas (6)

Cub Swanson (7)

Charles Oliveira (8)

Daniel Straus (9)

Patricio Freire (10)/Dennis Bermudez (10)

No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.

Bantamweight

Dominick Cruz (1)

T.J. Dillashaw (2)

Renan Barão (3)

Urijah Faber (4)

Bibiano Fernandes (5)

Raphael Assuncao (6)

Marlon Moraes (7)

Marcos Galvao (8)

Thomas Almeida (9)

Aljamain Sterling (10)

No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.

Flyweight

Demetrious Johnson (1)

Joseph Benavidez (2)

John Dodson (3)

Ian McCall (4)

Henry Cejudo (5)

Jussier “Formiga” da Silva (6)

Zach Makovsky (7)

Kyoji Horiguchi (8)

John Moraga (9)

Wilson Reis (10)

No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.

Pound-For-Pound

Demetrious Johnson (1)

Jon Jones (2)

Robbie Lawler (3)

Daniel Cormier (4)

Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino (5)

Fabricio Werdum (6)

Conor McGregor (7)

Luke Rockhold (8)

José Aldo (9)

Dominick Cruz (10)/Rafael dos Anjos (10)

No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.

Editor’s Note: Fighters are eligible to be ranked if they have competed in the last 18 months. Any fighter that chooses to switch weight classes will be ranked in their previous weight class until they have competed in their new division.

About The Author

Rob Tatum has been covering combat sports since 2009. His work has appeared on Bleacher Report, MMA DieHards, MMAinterviews and The MMA Corner. Prior to covering combat sports, Rob ran his own music website from 2002-2009. Beyond his writing, Rob has trained in both Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai. He is a Colorado native that works as a mechanical engineer during the day. In his free time, Rob enjoys watching sports, playing music and working on cars.